You and Your Doctor: A Healthy Partnership

You and Your Doctor: A Healthy Partnership

Your doctor can be an important partner in helping you manage h e a rt disease. He or she may already have spoken with you about your heart disease risk factors, but if not, be sure to ask about how to control all of them to help prevent future problems . H e re are some tips for establishing good, clear communication with your doctor.

Speak up. Tell your doctor that you want to keep your heart disease from getting worse and would like help in achieving that goal. Ask questions about your chances of having a first heart attack or a repeat heart attack, your risk of other heart complications, and ways to lower those risks. If you haven’t done so already, ask for tests that will determine your personal risk factors.

Be open. When your doctor asks you questions, answer them as honestly and fully as you can. While certain topics may seem quite personal, 

                           Keep it simple. If you don’t understand something your doctor says, ask for an explanation in plain language. Be especially sure you understand how to make the lifestyle changes your doctor recommends, as well as why and how to take each medication you’re given. If you’re worried about understanding what the doctor says, or if you have trouble hearing, bring a friend or relative with you to your appointment. You may want to ask that person to write down the doctor’s instructions for you.


                           Major Risk Factors

A strong partnership with your doctor is an important first step in managing heart disease. But to make a lasting difference, you’ll also need to learn more about the kinds of habits and conditions that can worsen heart disease and what you can do about them. What follows is a guide to major risk factors for heart disease, heart attack, and other heart problems, and steps you can take to control or eliminate them.

Smoking

Smoking is the “leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you have heart disease and continue to smoke, your risk of having a heart attack is very high. If you live or work with others, your “secondhand” smoke can cause them numerous health problems, including a higher risk of heart attack—even if they don’t smoke themselves. By the same token, if you have heart disease and live or work with someone who smokes, your own risk of heart attack goes up considerably.

Smoking puts stress on the heart in many ways. The nicotine in

cigarettes constricts the coronary arteries, which raises blood pre s s u re and forces the heart to work hard e r. Smoking also raises carbon monoxide levels and reduces oxygen levels in the blood. I t ’s a double w h a m m y : Smoking both increases the heart ’s need for oxygen and restricts the amount of oxygen it receives .

There is simply no safe way to smoke. Low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes do not lessen the risks of a heart attack. The only safe and healthful course is not to smoke at all.

The good news is that quitting smoking will immediately and significantly reduce your risk of further heart disease complications. After a few days, once nicotine and carbon monoxide are cleared from your b o d y, your blood pre s s u re will go down and the levels of oxygen and carbon monoxide in your blood can re t u rn to norm a l . Within 1 year after quitting, your blood flow and breathing will be improved and your coughing and shortness of breath will be reduced .